The purpose of this blog is to give and receive feedback about current issues in librarianship. Technology should be one of the more important topics discussed on the blog. I wouldn't consider myself technologically savvy...but I am willing and trying to learn!

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

GSLIS Wiki...see what the competition is doing!

I really didn't mean competition...I just wanted a neat title (no offense U of I).

I was looking up some information about libraries and wikis, and I found a GSLIS Wiki run by library students at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. It is called the Unofficial GSLIS Wiki. This wiki is, as you may guess, geared toward U of I GSLIS students. Authors include information about everything from specific classes offered at the school to information about local bars and restaurants. I started by exploring the "Useful Resources" category, and found that the wiki is organized primarily by subcategories. For example, after clicking on "Useful Resources", I clicked on the subcategory "Academics", then the subcategory "Administration", then the subcategory "Administrative", then the subcategory "Committees", then the subcategory "Curriculum Committee"...then I found a post. The post included a list of people on the committee, how the committee works, and recent meeting information. It may seem like users of the Unofficial wiki would have to do a lot of linking, browsing, and searching to find what they are looking for, but the wiki does include a search box. I went back to the main page and searched for "curriculum committee" and was linked straight to that post.

This is a great tool for GSLIS students at the University of Illinois who want to know something specific about their program or school (or their local bars). As with any wiki, it is a work in progress...but I think they have a great start considering a page exists for every class offered in the GSLIS program. Good job U of I!...is Dominican next?

4 Comments:

Interesting you bring up U of I- I just posted about their library system myself. It seems like they are really on the cutting edge of library technology! It is also nice to see that Dominican is making an effort to keep up with such a large university.

The purpose of this blog is to give and receive feedback about current issues in librarianship. Technology should be one of the more important topics discussed on the blog. I wouldn't consider myself technologically savvy...but I am willing and trying to learn!